The present invention relates generally to ground-working apparatus and, more particularly, to ground-working apparatus in which a ground-working implement is carried on the rear ends of parallel bars.
Commonly assigned Winterton U.S. application Ser. No. 07/863,219, filed Apr. 3, 1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,341,754 discloses a rotary, ground-driven row cleaner for use in conservation tillage farming (i.e., no-till or low-till) and particularly useful in conjunction with row planter units. Several planter units may be attached to an elongated and laterally extending tool bar adapted to be pulled forwardly across the field by a tractor.
The row cleaner of the aforementioned application comprises two toothed wheels which are located so as to sweep residue (e.g., organic mulch) laterally away from the path followed by a rotatable coulter and by furrow opening means which may take the form of a pair of forwardly conveying discs adapted to create a furrow in the soil. The sweeper wheels are supported on parallel bars attached to the tool bar and mounting the sweeper wheels for up and down floating to enable the sweeper wheels to follow uneven ground and effectively remove residue with very little disturbance of the soil. A spring acts on the parallel bars and biases the sweeper wheels downwardly into engagement with the ground.
While the apparatus of the aforementioned application represents a significant advance over the prior art, problems are sometimes encountered in effectively using the apparatus in widely varying residue conditions. If the residue is hard and tightly packed, greater downward pressure is necessary to enable the wheels to sweep the residue cleanly away from the path followed by the furrow openers. On the other hand, if the residue or the soil is fine and loose, the sweeper wheels may engage the soil with such pressure as to overly agitate and till the soil.